Diet for cat with colitis (TMI)

Yes, a vet is involved. Two of them, in fact.

Background: One of my cats appears to have colitis. She was a little, shall we say, ungroomed for the last month or so, which we attributed to her weight. A week ago she began the morning by yowling and passing bloody mucus. She smelled ammonia-y, chemical-like, and of feces. I took her to the vet. He examined her, took a stool sample (came back negative for parasites), and gave me Flagyl in oral form, b.i.d.

A week later, with many scratches and bites from administering the Flagyl, she’s somewhat better–she still smells weird, some of which could be blood, but not of ammonia or sewage-y. Since I don’t know what Flagyl smells like on that end of the cat, I suspend interpretation. She is clearly not her usual self, but is getting a little perkier. However, I’m still having to wipe her butt periodically, and I’m still getting brown-red and mucus (plus a little stool, plus it’s really unfortunate in terms of carpets and furniture–not at all pleasant, in fact, and really kicking up some obsessive cleaning and handwashing!). The vet has decided to keep giving Flagyl until 3-5 days past cesation of signs. If signs don’t clear after two rounds of Flagyl, he’ll want to do imaging.

Fine. However, he brushes off my requests for a diet that might be easier on her (though I’ve looked at several websites that say that my vet will give me a diet). This is an 11-year old cat who normally eats dry Science Diet Mature Hairball formula, on demand. There’s another 11-year old cat in the house who is not having any trouble. Other than cleaning the water bowl more frequently, does anyone know what I can feed her that might be a little easier on her? She’s coming into the kitchen and crying in the “give me food” way, but when I give her tuna (usually a big treat), she just laps at the water and then leaves.

Thanks.

Since you already feed a Hill’s product you might want to try one of the Hill’s prescription diets, probably i/d or w/d. But you will have to get it from a vet. I think Hills actually has a consultant service that you can call and talk to them about your pet’s problem and they will recommend the best diet. Although that may only be available to veterinary professionals but you can look aroung the site and see. The problem is that with multiple cats in the house it’s often difficult to feed one food to one cat and the other cat may not need the special diet.

There’s a Probiotic product made specifically for pets. Try it.

Wile E–I’ll call Hill’s if she’s not okay by Wednesday. The vet wouldn’t recommend a diet, so I’m not sure he’d sell me the special Hill’s without convincing.

We may give her a little live acidophilus yogurt and see if she can keep that down. She does seem to be clearing more with the 2nd round of Flagyl.

Other ideas?

We took her to her regular vet yesterday (not the emergency vet) and the poor thing’s anal glands were so full they couldn’t finish expressing them. She got a shot (painkiller and antibiotic), d/c Flagyl and a week’s amoxicillin, and I get to put vasoline on her anus, oh joy.

Emptying her anal glands should make her overall more comfortable, even if it doesn’t stop the diarrhea.

The lactose in the yogurt is probably going to give her more trouble than the acidophilus will solve. Probably not worth doing.

How heavy is this kitty? Is the diarrhea compounding her grooming issues because she’s too fat to reach (not uncommon, so don’t feel ashamed to admit it if it’s true)? Other clients I’ve worked with in similar situations have had good luck using human baby wipes on their chunky pet’s hinder regions.

Should you get a special food for that kitty, there are some techniques you can try to make sure only that cat get that food.

  1. Switch to meal times instead of offering food free choice. This is the best option.
  2. If you have to stick to free choice feedings, and if sick kitty is significantly larger than your other cats, and if the food is such that it’s okay for the healthy cats to eat it, then try putting sick kitty’s food down on the floor and healthy kitty’s food on a table or shelf. Chunky cats generally are unable/can’t be bothered jumping around to get their dinner. Alternatively, you can get a large storage tupperware box and cut a hole in it that’s only big enough for healthy cat, then put healthy cat’s food inside. Just make sure the box is big enough that sick cat can’t dig the food out with her paw.

I hate to be a fear monger, but at her age, you always have to worry about cancer. Cats, in particular, are prone to getting lymphoma in the tissue of their small intestine. Gives them intractable diarrhea, usually. Though that’s certainly not the only thing that can cause bloody diarrhea, you should be aware that it’s a possibility.

Looking at the posting times, we’re do for and update. Any news?

Well, you may not like feline colitis, or getting caught in the rain…

First, “colitis” is more a descriptive term than a diagnosis. Many etiologies can cause colitis.

Have you specifically discussed your concerns? Sometimes it is better to change only one variable at a time, I know I sometimes find this to be the case.

High fiber diets are often used to treat fiber responsive colitis. The diet you are using is higher in fiber than the average mature cat diet. I would recommend a second opinion if your veterinarian is not addressing your needs, but first I would discuss the situation with your veterinarian. An internal medicine specialist might, in a case like this, do cytology from swabs taken from the colon, or advise the cat be scoped.

Has your cat had a minimum data base of a CBC, Chemistry Panel, FeLV serology, and T-4? That would be an excellent starting point.

Cats have anal glands? I thought only dogs had those!

Cats, skunks (where they are very well developed), ferrets, dogs, all have anal glands.

On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas rising up through the air…

…My head grew heavy, and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night
Sorry. Hope your cat feels better soon!

Thank you all. Let’s see—

Yes, she’s slightly overweight, but the lack of grooming coincides with the illness. I have been wiping her with hypoallergenic baby wipes. She isn’t having diarrhea so much as leakage with mucus. This has cleared somewhat since her anal glands were expressed. She has well-formed stools (according to the vet who palpated her).

The third vet (her regular vet) also said a special diet wasn’t necessary as long as she was eating. She’s lost a little weight in the last two weeks, but she’s eating and drinking water. If necessary, she could be fed separately. Great ideas for how to keep cats out of each other’s food, by the way.

Yes. They are happy with the current diet, though. I assume that nice high-fiber stuff helps push out the material in the anal glands. I agree that changing too many variables at once is unhelpful. After two weeks of cat discomfort and bloody mucus on the furniture, however, I was up for a more scattershot approach.

She isn’t running an abnormal temperature. So far, three vets have declined to run any bloodwork. That’s fine; I just don’t want the idea to get lost.

The current smell of the cat (in the rain, I might add), might drive a person to colitas (though not colitis), were that person not quite so protective of her professional license.

She’s been better since the last appointment with the shots and squeezin’. Her hindquarters are less sore, the smell is down, and she’s spotting less. She also fights the amoxicillin much less hard than the Flagyl, and it does not make her facial fur clump (since it doesn’t make her drool). She is also bolting faster and struggling harder when I medicate her, which is a good sign.

She has a follow-up appointment next week to check up, finish the anal gland expression, and adjust treatment if necessary. She’ll also get her boosters then. If all is well, she is to return in 3 months to see if she needs more anal gland expressing. The best $19 I am ever likely to spend.

definitely stay away from any milk/lactose-based products. in all the years i’ve had cats i’ve never had a vet ever tell me milk is a good thing for kitty. none of my beasts have ever been permitted it, and i only drink skim milk as it is. :stuck_out_tongue:

(inserting obligatory photos here)

with my big guy Turk

two pounds over what he should be (16 pounds is what he should weigh and he’s at 18! his paw fills the palm of my hand - and i’m 5’ 10" tall), my vet recommended i start both he and the new kid on the the block - Speck, the Wonder Kitten

  • on an adult maintenance food like hills or iams while quietly phasing out Feline G/D, which is what Turk had been on up until i had to have my beloved old guy Murphy put to sleep earlier this year. Murph was the one with long-time kidney issues, and the G/D definitely extended the old guy’s life by quite a bit, but Turk’s been on that since he was a baby, as is Speck now. time to take them off of it.

Here’s the kitty in question.

Not good news. She has gotten better but not cleared. She has also defecated in the house a couple of times this week. We bought her in today for the follow-up; though her left anal sac was only half-full and her right mostly empty, the swelling was down so the vet could actually do the rectal exam. The cat has an enormous tumor (more than 2 inches) with ragged margins, which is probably extremely painful and accounts for why three weeks of antibiotics has not cleared the bleeding. The vet says that give the size and positioning, she herself would not feel qualified to do even a wedge biopsy. When we asked about the likelihood that this was cancer, she said it was virtually certain. When we asked how likely it was that it could be eradicated and how long the cat would be likely to live, she said unlikely and not long. She offered us options like chest x-rays, but it was clear by that point in the conversation that we were not going to pursue it. She gave us some pain medication for the cat. I’ve made an appointment to put the cat down on Saturday, after giving her a day or so to not be pursued around the house with medications and for us to say goodbye.

{{{Shoshana}}}

:frowning: